


Let me lead the way

by Pikkulef



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bingo, F/M, Gen, Karedevil Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:55:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24769636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pikkulef/pseuds/Pikkulef
Summary: Somewhere in a weird AU S2 where ninjas don't exist, Karen and Matt aren't dating yet, Karen is working half and half at Nelson and Murdock and at the Bulletin, and she's been writing pieces about the Punisher. She gets kidnapped by a Punisher admirer (PS : Frank isn't in this fic, sorry).
Relationships: Matt Murdock & Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, Matt Murdock/Karen Page
Comments: 18
Kudos: 28
Collections: Karedevil Bingo





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I HATE GIVING TITLES. SO YOU GET THIS ONE. 
> 
> This work will fill my bingo prompt "guiding" once it's published in full. It'll be 3 chapters, it's all set, for once XD.

_ Now. _

Karen woke up in a daze. Her mouth was dry, and her head was throbbing. She’d have chalked it up to a mean hangover, which would have been probable considering the amount of whisky she’d been downing recently, only if her hands had not been tied up. Her legs, too. 

Panic rose, a tight, icy knot right under her ribs, as she opened her eyes and found she was laying on the side, on the ground of a big and dark room. She couldn’t see much of it ; she squinted under the harsh light of two halogen projectors that were pointed towards her. She turned her head up. It seemed the room was high ceilinged, vaulted, but she could only see shadows. And brick walls. 

Moving had risen some of the old dust she was laying on, and her sneeze was echoed for a while. This chamber was big. It increased her panic. Brick walls. Vaulted ceilings. Echoes for miles. Didn’t sound well. 

“Ah. You’re awake.” A man was suddenly silhouetted against the almost blinding light of the lamps. He was standing above her, looming, hands on his hips. “Hope you don’t mind that I had to give you a little something. You weren’t exactly  _ cooperative _ .”

Hearing the man talk seemed to remind her she indeed had a voice too. Realizing her mouth was uncovered, she started screaming for help, without thinking. Blood was thumping at her temples, she couldn’t move, she was trapped on the ground in front of this man, and all she could do was scream. So she did. Again. And again. 

The only reply she got was the echo of her own voice, and the man’s laugh. 

“Oh, you can yell as you want,” He said, leaving the lights and disappearing in the shadows. “In fact, I’m counting on it.” 

Karen kept on screaming, breaking her voice, tears choking her. There had to be someone who could hear. 

No use. 

“You don’t ask me why I want you to scream, girl? Look at you, big journalist. Not even asking questions. That’s what you get when you hire baby girls like you. That’s not a job for you, little lady.” 

Karen stopped yelling. If there was no use for that, maybe she could speak with him. 

“What do you want from me?” She tried to keep her voice sharp. To keep the tears away. But she did indeed sound like a frightened little girl when she heard herself. 

“You? Why would you think this has anything to do with you?” 

Karen tried to focus her terror. Tried to mold it into something different, something more useful. Eyes tearing as much from fear as from the light, she looked for the man behind the lamps. She tried to channel her emotions into her gaze. Make that terror into hatred. “Why am I here, then?”    
“Bait.” 

Was that man eating? He was keeping her attached God knew where, on the ground, under big halogen lamps, and he was eating? 

“You got an impressive pal.” He  _ was _ munching on something. She added disgust to hatred. If emotions were her sole weapons, she would keep them. “That Punisher guy. I wanna meet him.”    
“He’s not my friend.”    
“I can read. Those article you wrote on him. You like him. You try to condemn his methods but you support him. And. You’ve met him.”    
“That’s what happens when you ask for interviews.” It was working. She hated him now. She was still afraid. Still terrorized. Her body still felt like ice and her heart like it was trying to escape her ribcage. But she had something to cling to. Hate. If he approached her, she would bite. If that was all she could do, she would. She’d killed to survive before. She would try to again, with whatever weapons she was left with. Oddly enough, that thought, that had haunted her for the last year or so, had made her life a nightmare day and night, was now a comfort. If she had killed before to save her own life, she might be able to do it again. 

Her voice was steadier. Colder, when she replied. 

“I haven’t met him in months. If you’re expecting him to come to my rescue, you’re misleaded. He might as well have left the country. Might as well be dead, for all I know. He’s living a dangerous life.”    
She was trying not to believe her own words. Because if this trap didn't attract Frank, then who would save her? 

  
  
  


_ A few hours earlier. _

Matt was the first to open Nelson and Murdock this morning. A first, in a long streak of weeks when he had been either late, or unable to even walk to work. It had a bitter taste to it. 

Foggy would be off for a good hour still, but usually Karen would be there. Every day. In fact, he had noticed that, when she greeted him every morning, she’d been there for way longer than would have been expected of her. She was either down 2 or 3 coffees already, or more. Worst days, she’d have stayed the night. He could smell it on her. Sweat, coffee, lack of sleep. It was not an unpleasant smell - he’d have to admit to himself he was unable to find anything really unpleasant about her - but it was a sad one. 

He knew she was working two jobs - still a secretary with them, but slowly gaining more traction as a journalist for the Bulletin, for which she was writing pieces that got her the interest of the editor in chief. He was happy for her, really, but a little wary at the idea of her choosing to embrace journalism. It would mean no more chats, no more time with her, no more Karen in the morning to look forward to after a night of pain and self stitched wounds. 

Like today. 

He was afraid he was going to lose her. 

Maybe the journal wasn’t the sole, real reason for it. 

It felt weird, but he sent her a text. Just a casual hello, how are you, been a while. Just to check on her. He tried not to think too much about it. 

Matt settled at his desk and got to work. He managed to absorb himself in it for a good while, enough for him to be warned that someone was in only by the creak of the door. 

Foggy. 

Meanwhile, there had been no reply to his text to Karen. 

  
“Hey, Fog.”    
“Hey, buddy.” Foggy went to his office, put his things down, then walked back to Matt’s. “Rough night?”    
Matt frowned.    
“It's that visible?”    
“Well… no. Not really. No wounds or anything.” Matt felt Foggy gesture around his face. “But you look worried.”    
“I’m worried.” Did you have to let that slip, Murdock? Well, now better let it all out. “You seen Karen?”    
“Not since yesterday. Why?”    
“She’s usually there in the morning.”   
“Might be at the Bulletin. She’s there a lot these days.”   
“Yeah,” Matt nodded with a sigh. “I know.”    
Foggy had sat on the corner of Matt’s desk. 

“You got thoughts about this?”    
“Thoughts?”    
“Come on, Matt. You’re the blind one. Not me. It’s written all over your face. In fact, it’s a little insulting how you expect me not to see it.”    
“What do you want me to say?”    
“I want you to make a move. She won’t. She won’t, even if she’s exactly in the same state as you. And if she leaves, I know you’ll never find it in you to go get her back.”    
“What, you want me to tell her to throw her promising career away to keep working for our near bankrupt firm, just because I like having her around?”    
“God help me, he’s not only blind, he’s a total dunce.” Foggy grabbed a piece of paper and mock hit Matt on the side of the head - Matt avoided it by casually tilting his head on the side. “I’m not talking about work here and you know it.”    
“Yeah, well. Maybe neither of us is ready.”    
“You better be, Murdock, or I’m personally going to kick your ass, Daredevil or not.”    
“I’m calling the Bulletin.” 

The sudden change of tone and subject caught Foggy as he stood up from the desk.    
“Okay, I was thinking about a date. Not stalking.”    
“She’s not answering her own phone.”    
“I said no stalking !”    
But Matt was already asking his phone to find the Bulletin’s number. 

Karen had not set a foot at the journal in the past three days. 

Matt hung up, his jaw set tight. He had to consciously force his grip on his phone to loosen so he could set it on the desk, and leaned on his fists, his shoulder hunched.    
“Not good, uh?” Foggy murmured.    
“Not good.” As if it had been a signal, Matt bolted through the door of his office, grabbed his cane against the wall, and disappeared through the door. 

If Karen was safe, he would know right away. If she wasn’t, God help whoever had put her in trouble. He would find and save her. He had vowed to keep her safe, and he would. 


	2. Chapter 2

_ Now. _

How long had she been there? She had no idea. There was nowhere she could get any glimpse of the time passing. No outside light or noise. Her watch was gone, and her phone too, of course. The man was still there. Waiting. Doing whatever he would be doing, there, at the other side of the blinding lights. 

“And you think The Punisher is going to find me just like that? Wouldn’t you want me to phone him or whatever?”    
“You think I’m stupid?” The man was far away. His voice was almost drowned by its own echo. He got closer as he spoke. “So you can phone the police? No. I left him a message at your apartment.”   
“And you think the Punisher knows where I live ? Or that the police wouldn’t find that?”    
“Who would call them? I looked you up, girl. No boyfriend. No family to speak of. You’re exactly what I needed.” 

  
Karen shut up. That had hurt. But it wasn’t false. She was alone. The only people she had in her life nowadays were Matt and Foggy. They would worry, right? 

But, lately, she’d been absent more and more. Her work at the Bulletin kept her away more than she would have liked - she barely went out with them to Josie’s or other places anymore. She would never tell them, but it was also a relief. She couldn't bear being in the same place as Matt. Seeing him covered in bruises. Not knowing what happened to him. Him never letting his guard down - especially next to her. She’d noticed he did, with Foggy. That made her irrationally jealous every time she caught a glimpse of it. 

She realized she missed them. She regretted not telling Matt how she felt. How he made her feel, even if it was a mix of incredibly happy and seriously angry that he would never let her in. How she liked his smile. How she, too, liked to listen to his voice. 

Telling Foggy how much he meant to her, too. 

Too late. 

She was still crying out, screaming from time to time. But the more time she spent alone with these thoughts, the more hopeless she became. She was convinced she would never see them again.   
  


_ A few hours earlier - closer to now  _

Matt wasn't going to look for Karen in his civilian clothes. He had run to his flat and stopped in front of the trunk that contained his Daredevil suit, only for a couple of seconds. It felt weird to don it during the day. Not that it made a difference to him, but he'd have to be extra careful. 

But he would do anything so Karen was safe. 

That thought was enough to jolt him into action. 

He ran as furtively as he could over the Hell’s Kitchen rooftops. The first idea he had was to go to her apartment. He felt bad about intruding - she would certainly take this as an intrusion, into her life and privacy, for him to be there. Especially if she knew who he was… He’d noticed changes in her lately. And he didn’t need his abilities for that - she was walking away from him, slowly, a little more each time she tried to know what had happened to him when he came to the office with cuts and bruises on his face. Foggy had told him to come clean with her - before something happened. But Matt didn’t know how. Each second passing was making it more difficult, making his lies bigger and bigger. 

He reached her building, silently crouching next to an air vent. She wasn’t there. But he had to try and get in anyway - maybe there were clues as to where she’d been. Matt tried to think about and find a way to enter the place without breaking anything, and without being seen, but he was constantly distracted with insidious thoughts, like mental static. 

He shouldn’t be there. Maybe she decided not to tell them what she was doing and would be furious to see they’d tried to track her. Maybe… Maybe she had a boyfriend that she didn’t want them to know about? What if Matt found traces of him in there? He didn’t want to think about this. He didn’t. But the thought kept buzzing at the back of his head as he tried to find a way to get in. 

_ Focus, Matt.  _

The bathroom window was faulty. It creaked when the wind hit it. By applying the right pressure at the right places, it opened without a sound, and Matt slid in. 

He had to take a few seconds to get his bearings back. Karen wasn’t there, but she was everywhere. Her scent enveloped him like a comforting blanket - but the comfort didn’t last. Karen wasn’t there. 

Trying to focus, but not knowing on what, Matt tried to ignore what he deemed too personal. It was hard to determine, but he did what he could. He walked from the bathroom to the kitchen, senses in alert to anything that would be out of ordinary Karen. 

He winced at the smell of powder and metal on the coffee table. Karen’s gun. Not in her purse - no, her purse, with its old and supple leather scent, was under the small table next to the front door, behind him. Karen was out, without her purse, and without her gun. Matt fought his jaw from tightening. 

Cigarette smoke. 

Karen didn’t smoke, but something in her flat smelled of cigarettes. Guided by his nose, he walked to the small kitchen, next to the fridge. The smell of smoke mingled with grease as he walked further. It came from a piece of paper, laid on the kitchen counter. Matt realized it was there, well in evidence for anyone who’d enter the flat from the front door. He approached his nose from the paper. Cigarettes, sweat, and the grease was that of bacon flavored Doritos. Foggy only swore by those, while they were slightly too much for Matt’s palate. But this didn’t smell like Foggy. 

Matt pocketed the paper, refraining from tearing it to pieces - he felt it was important. But he couldn’t read it. He left the way he had entered. Being slowed down by something as futile as a message on a piece of paper fueled his rage. He ran even faster back to Nelson and Murdock. 

_ Slightly later  _

Foggy jumped when he heard a dull sound from the next room. His client reacted nonchalantly.    
“Something wrong, counselor ?” 

“Uhm, uh, I think something might have fallen in my associate’s office. I’ll leave you for a sec, just to check if nothing’s broken.” Foggy walked to the door of his own office on stiff legs, trying not to let it out how fast his heart was beating. “He tends to leave his window open, and sometimes… Anyway, take your time to finish signing those papers. I’ll be back right away.”    
The client returned to his files without a look back, and Foggy closed the door behind him. It was all he could not to run to Matt’s office. 

“What the actual fuck, Matt?” Foggy tried to whisper as he closed the second door behind him. 

Daredevil was standing in full superhero pajamas besides Matt’s desk. 

“She’s not in her apartment, Foggy. She’s not there, but her gun and her purse are there.”    


They called him the Man Without Fear, but Foggy would bet an arm that what he could see on the little uncovered part of Matt’s face was fear, alright. And it was spreading. 

“And what ? Why are you here instead of running after the bad guys ? I can’t help you, dude, I’m not the one with superpowers here !” 

Daredevil let his head down as he gulped and reached for his pocket, and Foggy felt half happy, half chilled to see Matt’s mannerisms so clearly there. 

Matt brought out a piece of paper, folded. 

“I do need your help. I can’t read this ; not fast enough, at least. Read it. Quick.” 

It was Foggy’s turn to gulp. He unfolded the sheet and read to himself ; the text was long and dense - ramblings of a fanatic - and it would be faster to give a summary to Matt than to go through it out loud. 

When Foggy finished, his hands were sweaty and his breath ragged. His heart pounded at his ears. He looked up. Daredevil was tense, hands in tight fists, shoulder hunched. He was terrifying, yet Foggy knew he was also terrified himself. 

“Matt. She’s been kidnapped. A psycho wants to use her as bait to meet the - he wants to meet Frank. Like a… he says he’s a fan. Says he keeps her in the abandoned subway tunnels under Hell’s Kitchen. And that he… That he... “    
“Say it, Foggy. We don’t have time.” 

“He’ll kill her if Frank doesn’t come before tonight.” 

Daredevil - Matt - didn’t move for a split second, then took in a deep breath. 

“Thanks, Fogs. You just saved her.” 

Matt jumped through the window and left him alone. 

Foggy tried to calm down so he could go back to his client, stepped towards the kitchen for a coffee, decided against it when he saw Karen’s favourite mug, and just went back to his office trying to paste his usual affable smile on his face. It felt like the hardest time he’d tried to do so. 

  
  


_ Now _

Karen’s whole body was in pain. Her wrists and ankles ached from the ties. Her arms and legs ached from the lack of movement and the pressure of her own weight. Her throat ached from all her cries and screams. Her head and eyes ached from the lights aimed at her. 

She’d managed to roll on her back, where she could see the room’s ceiling a little better. In fact, this was untrue ; there was no ceiling. The room seemingly went up, to somewhere she couldn’t see. But closer, just above her head, was some kind of a tunnel. Not big enough for someone to walk upright in it, but big anyway. Like a century old air vent. 

And in this tunnel, she spotted a flash of dark red. 

She tensed, but tried not to let it show. What was this? She squinted. 

He was there, the dark red parts of his suit dully lit up by the lights under him. Karen had never noticed how close this colour was to dried blood. She felt her heart beat faster as she recognized him. Daredevil. 

Who, as if on cue, crouched a little more so she could get a glimpse of his face, with a finger on his lips. 

Silence. 

She tried to stay immobile. Her heart pounding in her ears, she fixed her eyes on him, just above her. He didn’t move much either. Probably assessing the situation, tilting his head this way and that -she wonder how he could see past the lights - maybe it was easier from above. 

Someone had come to her rescue. It wasn’t Frank, but someone had come. And of course, of course it was him. How had he known where to find her? How had he found out? Maybe Matt and Foggy had found a way to call him...

Suddenly, he froze. Karen held her breath. 

It happened so fast, she barely remembered much of it afterwards. 

She saw Daredevil jump above her, and heard him yell.    
“Cover your eyes, Karen!” 

She complied, as well as she could with her tied hands, and heard almost simultaneously his feet hitting the ground near her, and the spotlights explode, one after the other. 

Karen opened her eyes behind her hands, then quickly pulled them off her face. The whole chamber was now pitch black.    


A gunshot rang, its echoes storming for a long while in the adjacent tunnels - too late, the man would have been unable to aim.

She turned her head back to where the spotlights had been, just in time to see a flashlight - a powerful one - light up. The light framed Daredevil’s silhouette between her and the man. Shielding her.

“What the fuck, man! You fucked up my perfect -” 

Gunshot. 

Daredevil walked towards him.

“- little trap !” 

Gunshot. 

Daredevil kept walking, and Karen wondered how he did so under the fire until she noticed the flashlight was trembling. The guy was practically firing at his own feet, and soon realized he’d better turn and run. 

The light became extremely scarce and Karen could only glimpse what was happening, so she concentrated on what she heard amidst the echoes. 

Daredevil quickly caught up with the man, judging by the yelp she heard. The cristalline ring of shattered glass told her the flashlight was gone, too, now. She also heard Daredevil say something to him, but very low, and she couldn’t make out what it was in the noise of the fight, reverberating against the chambers walls for what felt like eternity. 

And yet, even the noise of the fight itself faded, and only one set of feet walked towards her in the following silence. There was absolutely no light anymore, and she felt a spike of panic as she wondered if Daredevil was in fact the one coming back. Maybe the gunshots had not missed after all. Maybe he’d died trying to - 

“It’s okay, Karen.” 

Daredevil’s voice was warmer than in her memories. It ringed different, too. She couldn’t pinpoint, but she’d heard it before. Probably the last time she’d seen him, and it had not registered then. She felt him crouch next to her and lay a hand on her shoulder, light, yet comforting. 

“You’re safe, now.” 


	3. Chapter 3

It was all Matt could do not to take Karen into his arms and hold her tight. Her heart was beating frantically, her breathing was ragged, she was trembling, and the adrenaline content of her sweat was so high Matt’s head almost spun. 

Guilt rose, bitter taste at the back of his throat. He was lying to her again. But he had to protect her. And protecting her meant hiding. Lying. 

If that man had taken her as bait for the Punisher, this could happen for Daredevil, too. 

He had to preserve her. 

He kept on telling her that she was okay, she was safe, with his most comforting voice, as he slowly took the knife he had stolen from the man out of his pocket, to cut her ties.

When she didn’t react, he remembered he had broken all the light sources in the tunnel. 

She couldn’t see the knife. 

“Hold still, please.” 

She tensed even more under his hand, still on her shoulder. Before she had the time to think too much and move, Matt shifted both his hands towards hers, keeping them in place, and quickly cut the tie - that knife had recently been sharpened - then repeated the operation on the one on her legs. 

“Here.” The chamber threw his own voice back to him. He had forgotten to change it as he usually did when he was out in costume. That wasn’t Daredevil’s voice. It was Matt Murdock’s. But who paid as much attention as him to voices? He’d be safe. Karen wouldn’t notice. “You’re free. Now we take you back up to Hell’s Kitchen, what do you think?” 

  
  
  
  


Karen clumsily got up, still shivering. She could feel Daredevil close, very close to her, maybe expecting her to fall. He smelled like sweat. And something else. She never considered smells. Maybe it was his deodorant? Did superheroes even use deodorant? She tried to take deep breaths, to calm her body. But she was underground, in an unknown place, with someone who had saved her life more than once now, yet was still a complete stranger… and in total darkness. 

She hated herself for how she sounded. 

“But how?” her voice wavered. “It’s pitch black.” She couldn’t help it. Her voice climbed into a higher pitch as she blurted out, “I can’t even see my hands. We’re - we’re stuck here. We need to find -” 

“Light’s overrated. Let me lead the way.” 

Still this sound, this colour to his voice she had heard before. And that comforted her, somehow.    
  


She almost jumped when he took her hand. His own hand was warm, a little sweaty from the fight. He had taken his glove off, for whatever reason. Maybe to comfort her some more - at least it’s what happened. The contact of his skin and the warmth of his hold grounded her. He tugged at her arm lightly, and she followed. 

Daredevil walked at a normal pace, not fast nor slow, seemingly oblivious of where they were, what had happened, and of the fact that the whole place was still pitch black. He didn’t speak much, and his hand was the only thing she could hold onto, that, and the echo of their steps in the chamber. Karen followed his lead as well as she could. She tried to remember where she’d heard this voice. To discover what her brain was linking it to. 

She thought of Matt. 

This voice… 

She shook off the idea immediately. Matt? Seriously, girl? You’re an asshole, Karen. 

It was logical - she was currently living through what he had to face every day. Lost in darkness in an unknown place, forced to depend on someone else for guidance. But she felt bad for linking this bad experience to him. By the way, Matt was far from lost. In fact he’d never gotten lost as far as she remembered. He knew Hell’s Kitchen like the back of his hand, better than she did. Even in new places. He aced this. And he was trained to deal with his blindness. He knew tricks and how to use his cane. 

And he was not afraid of the dark. Not like her. 

She was the lost one. Following a stranger. Placing her life in this stranger’s hands again. 

Daredevil stopped. 

“Are you okay?”    
“Y-yes.” She wasn't.    
“You seem... tense. Do you want to have a break? Sit down?” His hold on her hand tightened a little. 

“No. I want… I want to get out as fast as possible.”    
“Good." He loosened his grip on her hand again. "It’s going to be long, but we’re on our way.” 

They were finally leaving the big chamber. Karen started tripping repeatedly on rubble, and Daredevil tried to warn her or make her avoid the biggest pieces, but there were too many. Karen was trying to occupied her mind, so as to avoid panicking on her current situation. She kept her thoughts on Matt - that had a calming effect, just to think about him. But she was starting to get that he might be making the whole blind thing look more easy than it was, training or not. Maybe it was true, all these things about falling while taking out the trash?   
But no. Matt didn’t live in broken down, abandoned subway tunnels. 

After a while, and multiple falls, Daredevil stopped again.    
“Okay, this just won’t do. You’re too far from me if you stay at arm’s length, it’s kinda hard to avoid the smallest stuff on the ground. Besides,” he took a step closer to her, “We’re going to step into half collapsed tunnels, and I need to keep my focus on the trains up there.” 

Karen couldn’t see nor hear any sign of trains. Nor the collapsed tunnels. She had no idea how he knew all this. She had no idea if she could trust him, either. But did she really have a choice? 

She just nodded. Then figured it was dark.    
“Okay.”    
She caught a noise that strangely sounded like a repressed chuckle. But Daredevil’s voice was as serious as it had been before when he talked again. 

“Here,” he took her hand he had kept in his until now, and guided it to hold his elbow. “Leave your hand there. Stay close, follow my steps as you can. I’ll tell you if there’s steps or if you need to change position, but this way you will be able to feel it better. This is more proper. Safer.” 

Karen was a little put off by the idea of losing the anchor of his hand. But she did what she was told. She still tried to fight the panic, that was swelling again, by concentrating on what she could perceive. 

Still no light. No other noises than their breathing. Closer to Daredevil, she could smell his sweat and deodorant again. It was a very faint smell, but definitely one she’d smelled before. Not a very expensive one, but not like the usually aggressive men deodorants. More like the “no-scent” - that always had an underlying scent - that you could find in pharmacies. It intrigued her, and allowed her fear to recess a little. 

“You did need that break.”    
Karen was shaken back to here and now by the soft voice. They had not moved. Daredevil had placed his other hand - also without a glove - on on the one she had on his elbow. She wished he left it there, but he took it off.    
“You want to breathe a little more, of we start again? I was afraid you’d collapse, your heart - but now you’re steady again. You’re strong, Karen.” The reverence in his voice surprised and warmed her. And her name in his mouth. But what was did he say about her heart ? 

“We can start again.” 

Daredevil let out a little hum, and started to walk again. It was indeed easier this way - she could feel where he was going a lot better, following the way his body turned slightly when he was avoiding what she imagined was more rubble. 

Karen couldn’t shake Matt from her brain. 

When everything was over, when Daredevil will have brought her safe back to the surface - and she had to believe that, she had to trust him he would, because if not, what could she hang onto ? - she would talk to Matt. She didn’t know how, and she had no idea what she would tell him, but she would. Tell him she couldn’t bear seeing him hurt. Tell him she was there for him. Tell him she needed him in her life. Tell him - 

  
  
  
  


Karen’s heart had started beating so strongly, that Matt had lost his focus on the subway trains above them. He’d have to wait until the next one - only a few minutes later - to find where to turn at the next crossroad. He stopped ; her breath was short and her heartbeats fluttered, but the adrenaline in her sweat had faded. He turned towards her. It wasn’t fear she was feeling. 

“I’m sorry, but, uh… Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, I…”    
“You don’t sound okay.”    
“I am. I was just… thinking… Events like these, they push you to decisions.”    
“A hard one, judging.”    
“Yeah…” 

He felt her dance from one foot to the other. So close… yet so far. 

“I just need to talk to someone. I’m just… I guess I understood some things, now.” 

Curiosity burned like a bonfire in Matt’s chest at these words. Whom was she talking about? He couldn’t ask. Yet he was dying to know. 

  
  
  


“We can go, by the way. It’s okay. I’m fine. Don’t worry.”    
Karen had added the last words in a rush, because he did seem worried. His voice had changed, somehow. 

Daredevil replied with a half amused sigh. 

“Not yet. I need the next train to know where to turn.” 

“The next train?” Karen had yet to hear any sign of trains. 

“They’re a few stories above, but by following the right ones, we’ll get to a well I used to climb down and find you. We’ll just have to climb back up, and we’ll be in the service tunnels, that parallel the subway. There’s a ladder.” 

“I don’t get how…” 

Instead of replying, Daredevil started walking again, and she followed, but he stopped only after a couple of steps. He took Karen’s hand that wasn’t on his arm and placed it on a wall that was mere inches away from her. If he hadn’t been there, she’d have walked right into it. 

“We’ll wait for the next one together.” 

“You didn’t have your hand on the wall.” 

“I don’t need it. Just like I don’t need light, remember?” 

Karen didn’t answer, waiting for more. 

He had a small sigh. “I feel you’re not trusting me.”    
“Yet here I am, following you in pitch black tunnels and waiting stupidly with my hand on a wall.” 

“True.” There was a smile in this word. 

“I have a friend whom I’m sure would be curious about how you manage this.” 

“Are you sure you aren’t the one who’s curious?” 

Karen didn’t answer again. He would not tell her - and why would he? He knew she was a journalist. No matter what, he knew she could write about him. 

But it was true. She  _ was _ curious. And Matt probably wouldn’t give a shit about it. He’d only expressed feelings about his blindness once. A long time ago. 

She let go of his arm and placed both hands on the wall. Daredevil stayed next to her. 

“It’s probably not what you think, and it’s not as easy as it seems.” 

She wasn’t expecting him to continue on this. She turned in his direction - seeing nothing more than darkness everywhere - and almost missed the train. 

But she felt it under her fingers, a faint, tenuous vibration in the bricks, that she could only feel because she had been waiting for it. It disappeared faster than she’d have expected. 

“Ah. Here we go.” 

Karen felt Daredevil gently bump her shoulder with his - she thought at first he had walked into her. But no, this was deliberate, and a sign for her to take his hand. She did. He waited, then tutted and replaced her hand on his elbow. 

“The proper way. I don’t want to walk you into walls.” 

The proper way. To guide someone. 

Matt resurfaced in her mind again. He never - or rarely - took her hand, and one time he had explained it this way, jokingly. 

It was the proper way. 

Or she’d walk him into walls. 

  
  
  


Karen stopped, forcing Matt to do so. Her heartbeats had reached deafening levels again, and he was going to lose the track of the train if she talked - 

“You know a blind person, right?” 

Train track lost. 

Train of thoughts lost, too. 

What was he supposed to answer to that? He felt his own heartbeat dangerously increase, too. Luckily, he was the only one able to know it, or to notice the heat rising in his cheeks. 

“I guess we both know the same blind person, don’t we?” Such clumsy defence. If it had been court, the other side would roast him after that. 

“You know Matt Murdock enough to have guided him somewhere?”    
“We’ve met a few times.” 

“That doesn’t answer my question.” 

“You’re drifting into private matters, Mrs Page.” Oh, if he had been clumsy before, then what was  _ that _ ? He would not be able to stand his ground. If only because it was Karen. Avoid the questions. Don’t answer. Use your right to remain silent, for God’s sake. But she was on a roll. And judging by the signs her body was giving, she was furious. 

“Really? He’s my friend. I have not noticed him talking about you in these terms. I think I have the right to know how you do whatever you’re doing right now. Especially if we both know Matt. I don’t think he would be that interested, but who knows. I am. If you’ve met him, you’ve seen it. You know what I’m talking about.” Matt felt her grip on his elbow tighten - and smelled salt in the air. “I am sick of seeing him badly bruised everyday. He won’t let me help. So if you can help him, I demand to know how you navigate total darkness that well. That’s it.”

Matt stayed breathless. He cleared his throat, sniffed, but didn’t find anything to say. It was his turn to dance from one foot to the other, and he wished she would let go of his arm. But he couldn’t leave her there, alone, in the dark, afraid. And so angry. The way she talked about him was irritating - he didn’t need her help ! - but it also warmed his heart that she felt so much for him, that she wanted him safe as much as he did want it for her. She was lost with a stranger in the dark, and what she thought about was her friend Matt.

Himself. 

And he was lying to her. He had been, and he was still, and he would keep on lying. The salt in the air didn’t come only from her now. He raised a hand to wipe the corner of his eyes, thanking God for the darkness they were in, and sighed. But before he could say anything, she spat again :

“That’s all? You got nothing to say about that?” 

Well, he didn’t  _ have _ to keep on lying. Foggy knew, after all. And it was also real shitty of him to force his best friend to lie to her to protect his own ugly lies. To protect him. But Foggy did what he had always done. He did protect him, always. Which Karen seemed to want to do, nevermind how she rebelled at the idea that he - Matt - wanted to protect her. He felt the corner of his mouth involuntarily rise. The irony. 

“No. Nothing. I’m sorry, Karen.” He paused to swallow, and turned towards her, no matter if she couldn’t see him. After all, he couldn’t either, but that had never stopped him. “I didn’t know… I didn’t know that’s how you felt. Not… not that… Not that bad.” 

Her heartbeats surged once again, and he felt even worse, for making her go through this after all she’d just lived already. 

“I just couldn’t tell you. I wanted to… to protect you...” 

He didn’t need to be touching her to feel her tense increasingly. She was very, very still. 

“I don’t get it. What are you talking about.”    
She knew exactly what he was talking about. He could hear it in her voice. She’d been patiently piling up evidence as she’d followed him in the dark. She just didn’t know she was. 

Slowly, Matt took her hands in his. 

“This is the first time in years I wish I had something to make some light.” He let out in a desperate chuckle. 

  
  
  


Karen was lost. A part of her mind was yelling something at her but it was like it was in a different language. There was something evident, something she’d known, just there, and yet. 

She was unable to understand what was happening. 

The hands let go of hers again, after only a couple of seconds. Or minutes. She had no idea. 

She heard a sound of rustling… fabric… maybe… then the hands were back and placed something into hers. Something relatively big, light yet very solid, with round edges, like a helmet. She almost let it fall when she felt the horns. 

Daredevil had just placed his helmet in her hands. He was unmasked in front of her, and she couldn’t see his face. 

But she knew it. 

She gasped, unable to find her breath. 

That’s when he spoke again, in his softest voice, and indeed, she recognized it. 

“It’s me. It’s Matt. Daredevil. Uh, whatever. I told you I’d keep you safe and that’s what I’ve been doing. Or trying to do. Since we first met. I’m sorry, Karen. I couldn’t -” 

Karen closed her eyes and threw the helmet in front of her as if it was on fire - and he caught it. She never heard it touch the ground. She raised her hands to her face. 

Matt? How? Why? 

“I- I don’t -  _ How? _ ” Words collided in her mouth before she could speak them. Too many questions. 

“It’s…” She heard him sigh. “It’s a long story.” 

“I don’t believe you. I don’t -” 

“You know it’s me. Your body -” He made a step towards her, her hand brushing her arm. 

“My body? What?” She stepped away from him, backwards.    
“I -  _ shit _ .” He walked on her again, this time catching her arm gently but firmly before she could escape again. “Don’t step too far, there’s a pile of rubble just behind you.” He let go of her as soon as he had finished his sentence. She mentally thanked him for that. She didn’t know if she wanted his hands on her right now. Or him being as close as he was. 

As if on cue, she heard him make a single step backwards. 

Seeing as she had nothing more to say, he started talking with yet a lower voice.    
“I… I can…” He sighed again, then spoke faster, yet still in the same tone. “You know that bullshit about blind people getting their other senses heightened because they can’t see? It’s fake. It’s bullshit. Except for me.” 

Maybe heightened senses was bullshit, but Karen was clearly noticing she was paying more attention to the sounds he was making. To his smell - it was Matt’s deodorant. Of course.    
She heard him sniff and gulp. She kept silent. 

“I don’t know - I suppose it’s the chemicals that blinded me. No one investigated what it was. I wasn’t like that before. Now I… I can hear your heartbeat. I can smell the fear… or anger… in your… In your sweat… Feel the vibrations of the trains above our heads… All -”

“I think I have enough of a picture, thanks.” 

She believed him. In a world where aliens had come from the sky to destroy part of New York, and been kicked out by a bunch of guys, including a giant green one and one who fucking controlled lightning, heightened senses (and only four of them) sounded almost ridiculously low key.

She felt gross, too. Smell fear in her sweat? What else could he perceive? 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lied to you. I just… What has happened to you right now -” 

“It was for Frank.” 

“Daredevil could have been the one instead of the Punisher and you know it. The less you know about me, the better... but now it’s too late, I guess. I just wanted to protect you, Karen. Keep you safe. This is my priority. Even if - ”

“I still can’t…” She cut him. There was too much information to process, and she was still stuck on the first, biggest one. “Matt? Really?” 

Karen couldn’t help it. On a whim, she walked towards where Daredevil was, raising her hand.    
“What are you doing?”    
He took her hand in his, but only a light hold, to follow her move. Her hand met his chest first - but that wasn’t where she was aiming. 

She raised her hand higher, finding his neck, then cupping his cheek. His hand was still on hers. 

“Isn’t that how you do it?” 

She felt his stubble - Matt’s stubble - under her fingers, then delicately followed his jaw, up to his temple, feeling her way on his features. 

“Not really. You know… no one does that.” He chuckled, but let his hand follow, his thumb stroking hers gently. “But it’s… enjoyable.” 

It was as if she could hear Matt’s cocky smile… She was going to get further, because it was indeed enjoyable, but she felt him tilt his head away from her hand suddenly, and his grip tighten on it. It made her fall back to Earth. What had she been doing? 

But Daredevil didn’t allow her to think this through.    
  


“I have a better idea.”    
He guided her hand back to his elbow and started at a pace that was faster than before. She let him lead again. While she was still feeling weird about all this, knowing that she will have to pause and analyse all this later… right then, she was stuck in the dark with... Matt? Not a stranger. Matt. And most of her questioning about him had been resolved. But did she really believe this? Could she? 

She almost had a hard time keeping pace with him. He took sharp turns and even backtracked once, she was sure of that. He wasn’t following the trains anymore. 

And then she saw. 

Far away, a tiny glow. 

She stopped. 

“Ah. You’ve seen it. I could hear the neon buzzing, but I wasn’t sure...”   
She turned towards him. No use ; the far away gleam wasn’t enough to light anything there. 

“You were looking for a light?”    
“I want you to believe me. I want you to see.” 

He started again, and she was now trying to stop herself from going too fast. There was no use in falling and getting hurt then. 

She had not forgotten her fear of earlier, her despair - it was fueling her steps. It was exalting what she was feeling right then, even if she couldn’t describe it. 

She wanted to see. 

After a while when they only exchanged a few words, with him helping her avoid obstacles, she noticed she could see her hands. Faintly. 

She forced herself to look only at her feet, not to tell him she could see yet. 

But he knew. 

He stopped. But didn’t turn towards her. She could see his outline, now, his ruffled hair, his wide shoulders, accentuated by the suit. The helmet in his left hand. 

She clearly heard him gulp. 

“You can see, now?” He murmured, and the echo only sent back a whisper this time.    
“How?”    
“Your heart. It’s… dizzyingly fast.” 

“This is kinda unfair. Don’t you think?” 

“Oh, mine’s pretty crazy too right now.” 

He turned around. And of course it was him - but she was not doubting it. 

She had a hard time reconciling Matt’s soft, calming features with the suit he was wearing, a symbol of violence and fear. But a bleeding cut on his lower lip and a bruise starting to blossom on his cheekbone helped. She thought about all these times she saw Matt arrive injured at the office. 

The lonely neon was lighting a glimmer in his unfocused eyes, that he was often hiding from her. She was happy to see him without a mask - any mask. 

He blinked, many times. 

“You’re -” 

“I’m not the only one.” 

She realised she indeed had a few tears in her eyes. She didn't ask how he knew. 

“Karen, I -” 

“Me too. I don’t know what’s happening here and we’ll need to talk. A lot.” She got closer to him, and this time her hand found his cheek at first try. “But right now there’s only one thing I want to do. I've been wanting for so long, but you wouldn't let me... get close to you...” 

Matt didn’t wait for her to close the distance between them. 

She tasted the blood on his lips in their kiss, and she figured it didn’t bother her. 

She hoped there’d be more of those. Blood or not.    
  


  
  



End file.
